The Syracuse Crunch's top line of Richard Panik, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat are being denied the opportunity to play their favorite game within a game - tic-tac-toe.

In the first two series of the AHL playoffs, against Portand and Springfield, the top trio had the puck on a string and put up pretty much whatever numbers they wanted.

An injury to Panik in the Eastern Conference Finals against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton took him out of the mix for a bit.

But now, the three have been marginalized in the first two games against Grand Rapids in the Calder Cup finals, both losses.

No coincidence there.

There have been no artwork type plays, few odd-man rushes and what must seem to them like an extra Griffins jersey or two on the ice every time they jump over the boards.

"We had a lot of chances, but when you're not scoring, it's a problem,'' Panik said.

Typically, Griffins coach Jeff Blashill has tossed his aggressive checking line of Luke Glendening, Jan Mursak and Jeff Hoggan and top defensive pairing of Danny DeKeyser and Brian Lashoff against Syracuse's top line.

"Big thing with us to be able to shut down that line is the backchecking by our forwards. Those guys (from the Crunch) got a lot of speed, but our forwards have worked real, real hard getting back and taking the pucks away," said Grand Rapids defenseman Nathan Paetsch.

"That line plays hard against us,'' said Crunch coach Rob Zettler. "I think Johnny's line would like to have had more production. They need to do a better job of getting to the net.''

The three players had no points in Game 1. In Game 2, Johnson got a helper on a power play goal by Panik and Palat earned a secondary assist on a power play tally from Brett Connolly.

"I still see them getting some chances,'' Blashill said after his team's Game 2 win on Sunday. "They are a really good, good line. We think we have good players as well. There will continue to be an ebb and flow.''

Panik said such an ongoing battle should be expected as the level of competition increases deeper into the postseason.

"It's the playoffs. You're not going to play awesome every game,'' Panik said. "I know we're going to get back and start scoring goals.''